Memories

While unpacking I've come across numerous items that trigger memories.  Seeing Penton's water bowl made me catch my breath for sure.  Seeing her crate come off the truck made my eyes sting with tears.  

Opening a box and finding this triggered the same reaction.  Our dear sweet friend Kenna, who loved me and my kids and became a part of our family in Utah wrote this on Riley's travel book before we moved back to Jax.  We left some incredible people behind in Utah and Kenna is one of them who will always have a special place in our hearts.

New Favorite Treat

I have been making the kids some homemade frozen treats.  All I did was slice up fruit and put that and some flavored coconut water into a popsicle mold and put them in the freezer...

My Little Gymnast

Sissy has been asked to move up from Recreational gymnastics classes to Team.  She won't compete except in the Ribbon Club meets that take place at the gym but she will practice for 2 hrs. a week.  Her teacher told me that usually kids are recommended by their teacher, then they have to try out before they can advance to team.  For Sis, she was spotted by the Team instructor and requested Sis move up to Team!  Her teacher said this is quite a compliment since she didn't have to try out.  

I've spoken with her new coach and discussed my concerns of my little 5 year old being able to focus for 2 hrs. after an entire day of school and she assured me that she challenges them, but keeps in mind that they are still young.  I really like her coach and am excited to see how she does.  Her first practice takes place tonight!  I hope to have good things to report.  

Amazing Grace Race

My friend who teaches PE at the kids' school asked for help with field day this year.  I brain stormed a few different ideas - theme based for her.  I told her about the Amazing Grace Race I did as a fundraiser at the kids' school in Utah.  She and the principal fell in love with the idea so we decided to tweak it to fit the needs of Providence.  The kids had a BLAST and did a wonderful job.

Here are some kids trying to spell out names from the bible in a scramble:

3rd graders attempting to complete Noah's Ark:

Miss K's 3rd graders attempting to move the Ark of the Covenant:

Kindergartners getting ready to build the Blocks of Scripture:

Building the Tower of Babel with cups:

Part of the obstacle course for Wandering through the Desert - Israelites escaping from Pharaoh's Army:

More of the obstacle course:

The kids had TWO bouncy house obstacle courses to climb through!

Kindergarteners pretending to be David taking out Goliath:

Miss Rue's class getting on Noah's Ark:

The Plague of Frogs - leapfrogging down the field

Mrs. Hatman's class getting on the Ark:

 Singing Row Row Row Your Boat:

Ra and his buddy trying to find names of Books of the Bible:

Mrs. Popp's class building a tent like they would have Living in the Old Testament:

Mrs. Popp's class struggled to get everyone on the boat and keep them there while singing:

Some 5th graders working together to build their tent:

It was a beautiful day - lots of sun and fun.  I'm just glad it's OVER!  A lot of planning, meetings, etc. but all the smiles, squeals, and laughter make it worthwhile.  

Relaxation

We ordered new furniture for our back porch.  We have a sofa, 2 chaise lounges, 2 chairs, 3 small matching cube tables and a nice big rug for the seating area.  It's such a relaxing space to sit, have a drink, catch up after a long day and watch the kids splash in the pool.  We see lots of afternoons and evenings spent here with friends this summer.

Hoppy Easter!

We spent Easter at church.  We LOVE our church.  Pastor Joby hit it out of the park with his sermon. If you want to catch it, you can view it here: Resurrection Sunday - 7 Deadly Sins: Pride.  

After church we went to our friends' house for Easter dinner.  We feel so blessed that someone took us in after a week of having boxes delivered to our house and no functioning kitchen, was such a gift.  The Barquilla's are such incredible people and we're thankful we've become friends.  Their eldest daughter has been in Ra's class last year and this year and they get along well.  Their youngest is in 1st grade and is a brunette version of Sissy.  

It was such a wonderful day for us to reflect on God's promises and the grace and mercy he bestows on us.

Neib Gifts

Not only did we receive meals and offers for playdates, our first gift was this from neibs 2 doors down.  Gluten Free cookies and 4 koozies for the family!  Miss Toni has a cute tree swing in her front yard that she's given Sissy permission to swing on anytime she wants.  Sis has taken her up on that offer multiple times already.  We really are blessed!

So mUch To do...

So much to unpack...

The movers packed up and moved our apt stuff first then they brought this truck:

6 crates - 2 loads...all from storage!  Our guest room, office & garage looked like a storage unit!

PURGE is the WORD for us.  We've donated some things, thrown out a lot of stuff and are going to try to sell some of our unneeded furniture.  Our house is big, but not as big as our house in Utah with a 3 car garage and full unfinished basement to store our "extras."  Ugh...

On the bright side, my friend who teaches my kids' PE classes offered to bring them home from school the day they movers were packing us and brought dinner home with my kids.  Later in the week when the big truck showed up one neib offered to bring over coffee while I was checking boxes off the truck and another offered to bring us dinner.  Later that same day a different neib came with her kids to let them all play while I unpacked...We are so blessed with such nice people on our street!

Celebrating

Yesterday was the official closing on our new home.  It has been a VERY long year for our family.  It was filled with headaches and hurdles just with building this house, but that journey has come to an end.  There are a few things that our builder needs to come back to "fix" and complete, but he's got 2 months to get the punch list we create finished.  3 of our 4 master bathroom sink light fixtures don't work so that's a BIG issue for us.  The painting was finished yesterday and the dishwasher was fixed as well.  The pool guy and the landscaper are both coming back this weekend to finish up some things.

Closing was a headache which shouldn't surprise us with the track record we've had with this house.  Our HUD statement changed FOUR times yesterday morning!  It was the bank's fault but at least it's complete and over with now.  After the 3 hrs it took to sign the papers, get the correct HUD, go to the bank to get a check in the correct amount, we decided we needed to celebrate with some Bloody Mary's.  It was nice to sit down and enjoy the moment.

After we finished our drinks, we headed back to our apt, we packed up some of our stuff - dry food, clothes, Andy's Saranac beer, etc to take over to the house.  They are coming today to pack up our apt.  It's currently 8:45 and they are supposed to arrive between 8-10 am.  I can't get use to "Southern time."  I'm so used to getting things started early and finish early.  At least we have what we need at the house to keep us functioning this week.

Pray all goes well with our move this week.  It's going to be chaotic and overwhelming for sure.

Cocktail Tree

Our citrus cocktail tree is blooming and it smells incredible!  This tree is grafted with different types of citrus fruit.  There is only one Meyer lemon on it at this point, but the tangerines, grapefruits, limes, oranges and tangelos are all blooming!  Can't wait to harvest them!  Our blueberries are starting to grow as well.  We have 15 blueberry bushes and my kids can't wait to just jump out of the pool, pick a few berries when they are hungry and then jump back in!  Next weekend our landscaper comes back to finish putting in our raised beds and I'll get to finally plant our veggie garden.  Gotta plant some strawberries too. 

First Plunge

This weekend we've been busy cleaning our new house - I can't believe how dirty it was left.  I guess that's what happens when you push the builder to get done ASAP.  We've cleaned all 5 bathrooms, wiped down every flat surface, vacuumed and mopped every floor, washed down 3 of 4 porches, cleaned the summer kitchen, washed down the garage, hung towel bars, TP holders, etc.  Our kiddos have been pretty well behaved for the most part so we decided to reward them with an early swim in our new pool.  

Here's their first plunge:

They are sooooo happy we put in a pool! That means I'll be happy come summer so they can wear themselves out everyday swimming!

My Funny Girl

Latest Kendallism:  

Mom, I want to ride a bull!

Oh my, can you picture it...21, in a bar, riding the mechanical bull?  I don't know which scares me more, the mechanical bull or a real bull!  She's brave enough to do both. 

You've Got Mail!

Sound like an old AOL add?  It should!  We haven't even moved in yet, but we've got mail!  It was actually addressed to us, not just junk mail...We did get some junk, but it was a great surprise to go to the house today to find mail waiting for us!  Starting to feel real...

K's New Friend

K made a new friend today while we were at the house.  We were hanging up the mailbox when she rounds the corner with a very satisfied look on her face, ready to introduce us to her latest find. She loves animals of all kinds, even the reptile variety.  Hopefully lizards is where she draws the line.  I've already had nightmares of her picking up snakes and getting bit!  I love that even though she dresses up in skirts & dresses with fancy shoes, she has no problems getting dirty and catching lizards!

Our Own Fancy Nancy

Today was the Storybook Character parade in kindergarten.  K decided to dress as Fancy Nancy.  She loves reading Fancy Nancy books.  I was happy she chose an easy character to dress up as but that we also stayed away from the princess stories and Barbie stories.  

Here she is before we left for school.  We took special time to do her hair in a Fancy Nancy style.  This is a dress that my mom made for her.  She loved it and got lots of complements on her dress at school.

K and her BFF at the parade

Trying to get 22 kids to all look at the same place at the same time...

Her hair do before it gets destroyed at recess and PE!

She was rather upset that mom made her change into her uniform after the parade.  There was no way I was letting that dress on the playground or wearing it for PE!  She had fun though.